Karen Parkin resigns from Adidas executive board

Parkin first joined Adidas in 1997 as sales director, Adidas UK. Since that time, she has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at the company across customer service, business development, supply chain and human resources, culminating in leading global human resources over the past five and a half years. She was appointed to the executive board in 2017, according to a press release by Adidas.

“On behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to thank Parkin for the many contributions that she has made over the course of her career with us. She has served Adidas with leadership and dedication for more than 23 years and always acted in the best interests of our company and our people. Her decision to leave the company reflects that commitment and her belief that a new HR leader will best drive forward the pace of change that Adidas needs at this time. Therefore, it is with respect for her decision that we accept her resignation,” Igor Landau, chairman of the supervisory board of Adidas said.

“Parkin has played a key role in the success and growth of Adidas over the past few years. She elevated and centralised human resources into a world-class function, developed and led our people strategy and launched many successful employee programmes. She has played a significant part in our focus over the past few weeks as to how we move forward as a company to fight racial inequality and build a more diverse Adidas. She and the HR organisation also were instrumental in securing the health and safety of our 60,000 Adidas employees throughout the coronavirus pandemic. I would like to thank Parkin for everything she has done for the company. Going forward, I remain focused on working with my executive board colleagues and our leadership team to continue our momentum in human resources and to build a more diverse and inclusive Adidas,” Rorsted said.

“I have been very privileged to work for such a great company with so many talented and inspiring colleagues and I am very proud of what we have accomplished together. I am deeply committed to our goals of creating a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable company. While we have made progress in many areas, there is much more work to be done. However, it has become clear to me that to unify the organisation it would be better for me to retire and pave the way for change. Now is the right time for a new HR leader to take over the function, to seize the opportunity before us and drive forward the pace of change to create a more diverse and inclusive Adidas that we can all be proud of,” Parkin said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)